Teach your dog to heel.

I was at a public park a few years ago in northern California. I noticed a woman walking her [tag]dog on a leash[/tag]. The more I watched, the more I realized the dog was walking her. He wasn’t a very large dog, but he definitely had shoulder power.

After a few minutes I noticed a man approach the lady. They spoke for a minute, then she handed her dog’s leash to the man. The lady walked away and sat down on a park bench.

The man and the dog walked about 20 feet away (with the dog pulling the entire time), turned back around to the dog’s owner, and he began praising the dog like crazy. The dog instantly fell in love with this man.

The man faced the dog’s owner, maneuvered the dog to his left, and he got the dog’s attention. The dog started to walk toward the owner and the man jerked on the leash a couple times to get the [tag]dog’s attention[/tag]. When the dog responded to the jerking, the man praised the dog again. The dog loved it.

Once again, the man maneuvered the dog to his left, he got the dog’s attention, and the dog started to walk away again. Once again, the leash was jerked, the dog responded, and the man praised the dog.

This repeated about 15 times. Eventually, the dog would be maneuvered to the man’s left, but he would just sit there, waiting to be praised.

Finally, the man took a couple steps. The dog stood up and walked a few steps, then went right to pulling again. Same pattern… leash jerk, dog responds, man praises, dog goes to the left.

This repeated about 8 or 9 times, until the man and the dog were up close to the dog’s owner.

The man and the dog turned around, went back to their initial place, and started walking again. This time, they could make it 5 or 6 steps before jerk, respond, praise. But, I was starting to catch on to what was happening.

It took about 15 minutes, but that man eventually had that dog walking back and forth from one place to another, getting praised over and over for doing such a good job.

Finally, the man handed the leash back to the woman, gave her a few instructions, and then it was her turn. She started to walk with her dog, the dog pulled, and …. jerk, respond, praise. The man was still hanging around giving the owner some guidance. Over the next 5 minutes, the dog was walking on the leash with no problems at all.

I found myself nudging closer and closer to the man and woman and found out that they were complete strangers, but the man was a professional dog obedience trainer who saw how the lady was struggling to walk her dog. It was great for him to give her some [tag]free dog training[/tag].

I have to say, this is probably an extreme case of how quickly a dog can learn to [tag]walk on a leash[/tag]. But, I know the techniques work.

I’ve found a great dog obedience book which covers this technique in detail, just like I saw that man do in the park that day. I’ve read the entire book, and it’s a great resource for any dog owner.

Get your [tag]dog obedience book[/tag] today.